Who killed Jesus? Who lynched Blacks?

The who, what, where and why of the lynching of Blacks.

A distinguished Afro American woman who had seen the movie "The Passion of Christ" said that all persons who saw "The Passion" should also see "Without Sanctuary," a photographic exhibit on the lynching of blacks.  I saw "Without Sanctuary" at Jackson State University.

"The Passion" has stirred much controversy.  Who was responsible for the death of Jesus?  The Romans literally crucified Jesus; the Jewish religious elite requested/demanded his death.  See Acts, chapter four.

The lynching photographs not only show the grisly lynching scenes, but they also show the lynching mob, sometimes hundreds of people.  Sometimes lynchings were conducted on Sundays, after church, in churchyards.  See Orlando Patterson, Rituals of Blood.  Hint.  There may have been some Sunday School teachers in the lynching mob.  Possibly even a pastor or two.

Note that these lynchings were not done in secret, during the dead of night.  They were a proud public spectacle; photographs were made into postcards which were proudly mailed to friends: "I was there."

Without lynchers, there are no lynchings.  Who killed Jesus?  Atheistic Romans and theistic Jews.  Who killed blacks?  Too often theistic Christians were involved.  Or were they Christian?  Could a Bible-believing Christian lynch?  Could they commit Indian genocide?

Is the above related to the following?  According to Ken Minkema, Jonathan Edwards expert at Yale Divinity School, Pastor Jonathan Edwards "did own slaves.  The person who was a great Christian ethicist and theologian for all time believed that slavery was an institution ordained by God."

Theologian Edwards journeyed to Newport, Rhode Island, center of the slave trade, to purchase a slave directly from the slave trader, Richard Perkins.  Later Edwards did oppose the slave trade, but he continued to defend slavery.  He "did not free any of his slaves."

Did Christian support of slavery prepare the way for later lynchings?  Was it only one small step from slavery to lynchings?